Montgomery County ready for election; power restored to polling places

COURTHOUSE — Hurricane Sandy may have challenged those preparing for Tuesday’s General Election but the storm won’t hinder the balloting in Montgomery County.

“We are happy to announce that all systems are go (Tuesday) in Montgomery County. All our polling places will be open and ready to go,” Frank X. Custer, director of communications for the county, said Monday.

There are 425 polling places, housing 435 individual precincts, in the county and on Friday at least 14 were still without power in the wake of last week’s super storm. Officials praised PECO Energy crews for working over the weekend to get power restored to all the precincts.

The last power problems were resolved Monday morning with the repair of a transformer serving a polling place at Upper Moreland Middle School, Custer said. A polling place at the Huntingdon Valley Fire Company in Lower Moreland had been operating with a generator as a result of a power outage there but full power was restored on Monday, officials said.

“As of now there are no generators in use and we are ready to go (Tuesday) and have all our polling places open. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly,” Custer said.

Not that there weren’t a few nerve-wracking moments during the last several days, Custer conceded.

“It was a little hairy. I was always confident that PECO would be able to get the job done. PECO stayed in constant contact with our election officials and kept us abreast of the situation and by (Sunday) night it was looking pretty good,” Custer said.

David Robinson, assistant solicitor for the county, thanked Voter Services and Board of Elections staff for working tirelessly to get voting machines delivered on time even though the county experienced a two-day courthouse closure due to the storm.

“A thank you, of course, should be extended to PECO for working so hard to ensure that we are operational for Election Day here in Montgomery County,” Robinson said.

The county’s more than 1,000 voting machines, which escaped damage at the county’s Norristown warehouse near the Schuylkill River during the storm, were delivered to all the polling places by Monday.

“All the machines are in place, so again everything is in good shape,” Custer said.

There have been no reports of poll workers not being available for duty because they are dealing with storm-related problems.

“There have been no indications that any poll workers will not be able to make it because of the storm. It should not present a problem,” Custer said.

All poll worker classes have been conducted, officials said. The last poll worker training class was held Saturday at the county warehouse in Norristown.

“It was very heavily attended. There were several hundred poll workers attending that class on Saturday,” Robinson said.

A team of county prosecutors will be available to respond to Election Day complaints, according to District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

“In order to ensure that all Montgomery County citizens are able to vote without being subject to intimidation, threats or any other abuse of the electoral system, a team of prosecutors has been assigned to respond to Election Day complaints,” Ferman said.

The prosecutors will work with county and local law enforcement, as well as other government professionals, to protect access to and the integrity of the election.

The District Attorney’s Office will investigate, and where appropriate, prosecute violations of election law. In addition, the District Attorney’s Office will work with the United States Attorney’s Office to deter electoral corruption and will refer any federal violations to the U.S. Attorney so that violators can be brought to justice.

The Election Day team will be led by First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele.

There are a total of 554,870 voters, including 255,227 Democrats and 215,205 Republicans, eligible to cast ballots in Montgomery County on Tuesday. A total of 20,504 new registrations were recorded since the primary election in the spring.

During the presidential election of November 2008, 73.1 percent of registered voters cast ballots. Historically, turnout is larger during presidential elections.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. All voters in line by 8 p.m. will be permitted to vote.

Typically, the largest crowds show up at the polls before work, between 7 and 9 a.m. and after work at 5 p.m., officials said. By law, polling places must stay open to accommodate voters in line by 8 p.m., whether they’re inside or outside the polling place.